2018 Clark Estate “Classic” Riesling

93 points / 5 stars            Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

The wine is delightfully restrained and elegantly lifted on the nose showing orange peel, lemon/lime zest, apple and white floral characters, followed by a juicy palate that is finely textured with subtle sweetness. The wine offers bright acidity and refreshing mouthfeel, finishing long and vibrant. Style: Medium-dry. At its best: now to 2024.

90 points / 4 stars            Bob Campbell MW

Taut and tangy riesling with honey, lime, oyster shell, mineral and a suggestion of apricot. Some botrytis influence with a slight musky note and good sweet-and-sour tension.

91 points / 4 stars            Wine Rater: Steve Bennett MW & Lynnette Hudson

Quite developed straw hue with golden tinges. An appealing, voluminous, complex and perfumed bouquet with pronounced beeswax, clover-honey, candied apple and mandarin aromas. Luscious, rich, full bodied style with a creamy texture and just about enough lemony acid freshness to hold in balance. 

88 points            Cameron Douglas MS

A powerful, fruity and sweet scented bouquet – aromas of apricot and apple, honeysuckle and sweet lemon. On the palate – an off-dry style immediately evident on the palate with a rush of sweetness that is almost immediately contrasted by the tang and grip of acidity. The back label of the wine says a ‘Dry’ and this wine does ultimately finish dry. That said the ripeness of fruit and some residual sweetness lingers. Flavours mirror the nose with a decent concentration and length. Balanced and well made. Best drinking from today and through 2024+.

4 stars            Michael Cooper, Winestate

Delicious young, this attractively scented wine was grown in the upper Awatere Valley. Pale straw, it is fresh, medium-bodied and crisp, with a gentle splash of sweetness and generous, ripe, peachy flavours, showing good vigour and length. Balanced for easy drinking, it should also reward cellaring.

Viticulture

The 2018 season started warm and dry but turned to finish cool, giving the vines time to ripen the fruit to perfect balance.

Crisp, flavoursome berries were harvested in the cool of the night to retain the refreshing acidity and finesse before heading to the winery.

Winemaking

The fruit was processed as quickly as possible to preserve the distinctive varietal flavours and fermented long and slow.

Once the right balance was achieved, the ferment was stopped and the wine was left on the yeast lees to help it develop a lovely structure and extra palate weight.

Wine Analysis

pH       3.16

TA       8.86 g/L

Alc       10.3%

RS       20 g/L

This Classic Riesling style is a beautiful example of the Riesling grape.

Grown on a gentle south facing slope of the upper Awatere valley, the vines are less exposed and the fruit is left to ripen slowly to develop lovely aromatic flavours reminiscent of the classic Rieslings made around the world.

Our single-vineyard Classic Riesling is lively with wonderful aromatics and a mineral edge thanks to the chalky texture, showing how well the Upper Awatere soils can grow great Riesling.